"IT'S BETTER THAN ME FEELING DOWN BAD!" In this episode we listen to A FAMILY AFFAIR from Clark D and Guyclaude of Family Famous Records, a record label from Boston, MA. Nate and Tomo are joined by guest hosts Ray and Mac to discuss one of the most anticipated albums of the year! We're Baaaaack... again. (0:00) What have we been listening to? (6:46…

Red Shaydez! OK let’s talk some sh**t! Sorry for the potty mouth. Just trying to introduce my next guest appropriately. Red Shaydez is a Do it your-selfer whose name I have heard countless times over the past few years. She is a busy woman and talent. A hip-hop artist, producer, videographer, public speaker, educator, and youth mentor, Red has been…

Right when I first started ATB in 2016, emails asking to be a guest were few and far between. One of the first requests I ever got that year was from my next guest, who I never actually met until this past summer. Musician Justine Covault had herself just started her band Justine and The Unclean. She’s someone who gets stuff done. From co-founding …

Linnea Herzog is someone you don’t miss when you walk by her. Or see on stage. And I would surmise at her day job as a neuroscientist at The Broad Institute, you can’t miss her there either. Musicians are smart. But some are smarter than others, especially when you get a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Brandeis University where Linnea studied how taste …

I saw my first show at Once Ballroom in Somerville a few years ago, entering the building, wondering if I just walked into a bar mitzvah, or as JJ Gonson first thought when she saw the room for the first time, a high school prom. But on the raised stage I saw the band, Dada. That was only the first time among many. Mostly I was there for the infamo…

Matt Lorenz, AKA The Suitcase Junket. Many sounds come from this one-man band. Sounds from actual suitcases, from guitars found in the trash to any number of odds and ends Matt procures, invents, and salvages. He is an inventive and talented guy. I took a trip out to western MA to chat with Matt in his recently almost finished studio to talk about,…

Matt Lorenz, AKA The Suitcase Junket. Many sounds come from this one-man band. Sounds from actual suitcases, from guitars found in the trash to any number of odds and ends Matt procures, invents, and salvages. He is an inventive and talented guy. I took a trip out to western MA to chat with Matt in his recently almost finished studio to talk about,…

When COVID first hit Boston and we were sequestered in our hobbit holes, we decided to offer a window for everyone to see and hear live music for a musical respite from the pandemic. One of our guests on this program that we called #TogetherAtHome was the awesome Wolff Sisters. These three sisters and musicians, who are also fellow 2020 Boston Musi…

I was very happy to sit with Knar Bedian, Founder and Editor in Chief of Sound of Boston music blog. I discovered Sound of Boston before I started Above The Basement and I am a huge fan. I asked Knar on in the early days of ATB and she politely refused. But I kept at it and finally got her on the show. Knar loves Boston, and like many of us, she wa…

Like so many of the Boston musicians we have talked to, Avi Salloway from the band Billy Wylder is a very thoughtful guy who has learned that as an activist, you need to understand how to be an ally. Avi just released a new EP called Whatcha Looking For and we were fortunate enough to hear a few tunes from it. He has played music around the globe, …

In this episode we listen to 1000 Year Grief from Kleo, a rapper and performing artist from Roxbury. Other topics discussed include: Ungrateful Youth, Adulthood vs. Adolescence, and Our Plans Moving Forward. We're Baaaaack (0:00) What We've Been Up To (12:39) Are The Youth Ungrateful? (31:28) Adulthood vs. Adolescence (36:43) Plans Moving Forward (…

Juliana Hatfield! If you did not know, Juliana is a Boston native and still resides in the city. You may see her finishing up her 10…ok maybe 5k run if you can pick her out from the crowd of masked runners. She likes the anonymity and this isolation in the time of COVID fit her very well – or at least it didn’t change much for her - as she is a res…

Boston Radio and WBCN legend, Oedipus, is someone who seems to have said yes to everything. Oedipus got his start as an intern in college radio in the 70’s and worked his way into the WBCN family, creating the Boston Radio powerhouse that BCN became. With his cutting-edge pink hair and his love of punk and new wave music, the musicians that made up…

What is a Jamoke? Is a chump a jamoke? We really have no idea. But we love the question and will begin using the word Jamoke on a regular basis. These are the deep questions we dove into when talking with Jennifer D’Angora and Ed Valauskas. Plymouth native Jennifer D’Angora, also known as Jenny Dee, has been on the Boston music scene long enough to…

We first heard of Destiny Claymore in an article on Vanyaland and then in another piece by the great Jed Gottlieb in The Boston Herald. A Boston triple threat with an incredible, unique voice and dancing chops, Destiny had a pretty great 2020 - despite COVID. She appears in the upcoming film Free Guy with Ryan Reynolds and not too long ago was also…

We think what makes our conversations interesting is the face-to-face we always have and actually required at one point. We used to say no to virtual conversations. But we aren’t idiots, as far as you know, and we are still chatting with our guests virtually because of the evil COVID, and while we are not fans, we still at least get to talk with gr…

Part Two! Fans of Phish, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, these fans are all great. But nothing compares to the fans of the homegrown Boston band Neighbor. Whether that is hyperbole or not (Ron will need to find the definition of that word in a dictionary), the fellas in Neighbor would argue that they do have the greatest fans in the world. Neighbor …

Fans of Phish, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, these fans are all great. But nothing compares to the fans of the homegrown Boston band Neighbor. Whether that is hyperbole or not (Ron you can find the definition of that word in a dictionary), The fellas in Neighbor would argue that they do have the greatest fans in the world. Neighbor is Richard Jame…

We had a remote conversation with the Boston band The Devil’s Twins, who we’ve wanted to have on for a while. We do not like remote conversations, but we did find it was better than having them in person with masks on. First of all, it is obviously safer to do it remotely, and also it is much more difficult to have a face to face when you can’t eve…

We sat with DJ, entrepreneur, and the first black woman to own a digital radio station, Ms. Hot Sauce – AKA Danielle O Johnson. This is probably the most raunchy episode we have ever done, which isn’t really saying much because, well, Ron and I are kinda like saints without the two required miracles. But we do have some inappropriate language in th…

Boston born U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo got her start at Wally’s Jazz Café when she was tricked into performing her poetry in front of an audience by her friends. But her journey reaches much farther than the great Wally’s. U-Meleni spent her youth in Zimbabwe and she credits her late mother as well as her grandmother for her gift of empathy and expressi…

Anyone who grew up in the Boston area in the '70s will remember the GBH theme music that played on our TV sets while we sat 10 inches away from the TV and watched Sesame Street or the always hip kids show Zoom. No, not the Zoom we all use today, but the 1972 Zoom. That iconic music (which you will hear on the episode) is embedded in our brains, and…

Chuck had a solo conversation with the great New England band Twisted Pine. He sat with fiddle player Kathleen Parks, mandolin player Dan Bui and bassist Chris Sartori not too long ago. We missed Twisted Pine's newest addition, Anh Phung, who plays flute in the band, but she is safe at home in beautiful Canada. But we did get to talk about her behi…

In early November we ran across an article in the Boston Globe about a collaboration between the Boston Hip Hop group STL GLD and The Boston Symphony Orchestra. The headline alone caught our interest – the BSO is collaborating with a hip hop artist? We were so interested. We watched a music video that they put together and it blew our minds. The so…

It has been an insane few weeks, which is an understatement to say the least since that could apply to the entirety of 2020 if not the last four years. We don’t mean to lay our politics out there, but whatever your beliefs, 2020 can’t end soon enough. Luckily, we were able to talk to the multi-talented Kemp Harris to bring a little light into this …

Mission of Burma has been called, and we quote, "...one of the most important American rock bands of the last 20 years." That quote may be a bit dated, as now it may be 40 years, but either way, Clint Conley may find that to be hyperbole. But the fact remains that bands like The Pixies, Pearl Jam, Moby, REM, Nirvana and Throwing Muses (to name just…

We had an opportunity to sit with Abby (Abs) Kahler and Zoe Young - two of the members of the feminist folk foursome from Western, MA in the Pioneer Valley, Ruby Mack. We were sad to miss their bandmates Emma Ayres and Abbie Duquette, but during the time of COVID, we are always happy to sit face to face albeit 10 feet away and masked to chat with t…

Boston native Mark Kates is the founder of Fenway Recordings and manages several bands, including MGMT, The Cribs, Mission of Burma, Doves, Swim Mountain and KUNZITE. He had been in the biz since he was a kid, signing a who’s who of bands over the years including Beck, Jawbreaker, Elastica, Alabama 3. When working for Geffen, he brought them Sonic …

We took a lovely drive to western ma to sit alongside a flowing river with our new best friend Erin McKeown. OK, she might not be our best friend, but we certainly wish she was. Erin is a force of nature. A persistent welcoming smile immediately put me at ease. So much so that we talked for almost two hours. Which is why this episode is in two part…

We took a lovely drive to Western MA to sit alongside a flowing river with our new best friend Erin McKeown. OK, she might not be our best friend, but we certainly wish she was. Erin is a force of nature. A persistent welcoming smile immediately put me at ease. So much so that we talked for almost two hours. Which is why this episode is in two part…

Every time we ask someone in the music business what is the most exciting thing happening in music in the City of Boston, we always get the same answer. Hip-Hop. Not only has Hip Hop become the most popular music genre in the rest of the world, but Boston has become a hotbed of fantastic hip-hop artists like our next guest, Brandie Blaze. Brandie i…

Every once in a while we get to chat with a Boston legend. Chris Smither is one of the most distinguished and authentic singer-songwriter/bluesmen over the past 50+ years. His soulful voice and excellent finger-style guitar playing is set to a heartbeat kept in time by his signature tapping feet. Chris moved to Boston from New Orleans back in the m…

Ron and I sat in the back room of 40 South Street in Jamaica Plain, buried in denim, and various other piles of vintage clothing with our masks over our faces on a beautiful day not too long ago. The proprietor Hilken Mancini had to leave every so often to take care of the front of the store, but we got in a great conversation. 40 South Street is a…

In this episode we listen to High End Theory from Ricky Felix, a local producer and one of the all-star members of Brockton's Van Buren collective. Other topics discussed include: Brandi Chanel Presents: The Morning Show and Seefour's newest album Recovery Island: The Morning Show event discussion (6:19) Recovery Island discussion (11:42) Seefour -…

Chuck drove out to Western Massachusetts to sit on Lisa’s front porch surrounded by chickens, a vocal rooster, two small children having an amazing time doing whatever small children feel like doing, bees and the occasional mouse to talk music, songwriting and Life in the Time of COVID. Lisa’s latest album How We Want To Live is a beautiful record …

Paul Hansen is The Grownup Noise – a Boston band formed in 2005 with bassist Adam Sankowski – that has had an impressive list of members too long to mention. The Grownup Noise website says their name represents something to rebel against, like fear, complacency, the closing of your heart, the stress of bills etc. We can imagine the current state of…

With a name like Mistress Carrie, we might be forgiven if we were a bit cautious asking her on ATB for a chat. But we knew what we were getting into. Boston native Mistress Carrie is a badass. She was until recently a DJ for 22 years and the Assistant Program Director of Boston rock station WAAF.Af chuck clough, mistress carrie, ronnie hirschberg, above the basement

Boston Hip Hop artist Cliff Notez is another guest we had been trying to get on ATB for a long time. He’s a busy busy guy – writing, composing, teaching at Berklee College of Music and Emerson College, filming, sculpting, painting and according to WBUR in Boston, generally being one of the Boston arts community’s busiest multihyphenates. Which is a…

For our first in-person but appropriately distanced conversation since COVID hit, we were fortunate to sit with fellow Bostonian, author, documentary filmmaker and National Arts reporter for the Washington Post, Geoff Edgers. We first came to know Geoff at a book signing of his recent book Walk This Way - Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song that Chang…

We first met Corey SantOne DePina at a Mighty Mighty Bosstones concert not too long ago with some of his students at Zumix, and we could tell right then that he was the real rock star of the evening. Zumix is an award-winning music and creative technology program designed to equip youth with the tools necessary to reach their full potential, while …

This is our second conversation with a former guest that we thought was important to have due to recent events. We spoke with Ashleigh Gordon - violist, activist and Artistic Director of Castle of Our Skins, a Boston-based concert and educational series devoted to celebrating Black Artistry through music. We talked to Ashleigh about how she’s doing…

The COVID pandemic hit all of us quickly and our plans for the spring, summer and perhaps beyond, were scuttled. We know of many musicians who were planning to tour a new album and unfortunately they had to postpone, or in the case of Ry Cavanaugh of the amazing band Session Americana, cancel altogether. Hopefully we can change his mind about the t…

We wanted to catch up with a few of our previous guests to see how they are doing in this quarantine from which, thankfully, we are slowly emerging.I’ll have a few different guests on to talk about the current state of affairs in our city, including the protests and state of our country.So here is a conversation with Boston Emissions’ Anngelle Wood…

On one fine day back in early March, The ATB team drove out to Greenfield, MA to Great Spirits Tattoo to not only talk with musician and artist Ben Reigal, but also to get Chuck another tattoo! Chuck got a tattoo of a compass on the inside of my left arm. I think we can all agree that a compass is something that we as a country, as a society and as…

In this episode Nate Nics is joined by Malikai Unique and Alejandra of Obvious Nonsense Entertainment. Together they listen to the album Afro Moses from Kofi Lost, a Boston rapper, poet, and producer. Other topics discussed include: What is Obvious Nonsense?, Billie Eilish's thoughts on posturing, and Red Shaydez Mystery Event. Time stamps: Obvious…

In this episode we listen to a roundup of recent tracks from local artists such as Treva Holmes, Amber Ais, and KO6AIN. Other topics discussed include: The Grammys, Red Shaydez' mystery event, and a story about AJ finding a wallet. Time stamps: Grammys: 4:32 AJ Wallet Story: 15:31 Happy Birthday, Shay!: 25:10 Red Shaydez Event: 26:18 Ameer Van - Gl…

In this episode we listen to the album GoodEvil from Luke Bar$, a Brockton-based artist and standout member of the Van Buren Records label/collective. Other topics discussed include: What exactly does "Onx" mean, Croissants, and Is evil good? Time stamps: 9th Wonder - Caine Asia and TOMO Freestyle(2:04) Luke Bar$ - GoodEvil (5:38) What does "Onx" m…

In this episode Nate and Tomo listen to Catharsis from Clark D, a rapper/producer/engineer from Hyde Park and co-founder of Family Famous Records. At the end of the episode we give a sneak peek at some upcoming songs that Tomo is featured on. Other topics discussed include: Is Soulja Boy better than Eminem? and What exactly does Catharsis mean? Tim…

In this episode we listen to KOLDKNIGHTSKOLDKUPS from Steeezoo, a local artist and prominent member of the KHEMICALKUPALLSTARS collective. Other topics discussed include: flaking, work vs. passion, and Terminator/Terminator 2. Time stamps: Flaking? (0:39) Seefour - Rich Forever (7:06) Kofi Lost - Composed (9:51) TOMO - Google Chrome (16:36) Steeezo…

Af ronnie hirschberg, gianna botticelli, above the basement, chuck clough, ghost GRL